Cat Trivia

Why anyone would want to know these things is strange but they seem to fit with my cat tales.

o   A cat’s brain is more similar to a human beings than that of a dog (we have the same brain regions for emotion.)

o   Cats have more bones that we do; 230 to our 206.

o   But we have more skeletal muscles; 650 to 500.

o   Cats have 32 muscles to control the outer ear, we only have 6.

o   Cats see 6 times better than we do at night.

o   Cats can see blue and green but it is debated if they can see red.

o   Cats don’t have to blink to lubricate their eyes.

o   Cats can be right or left pawed.

o   10% of a cats bones are in their tale; helps them keep their balance.

o   The domestic cat is the only species able to hold its tail vertically while walking.

o   Cats dislike a citrus smell.

o   A cat has 24 whiskers, 4 rows of whiskers on each side, the upper ones move independently of the lower ones.

o   Cats have 30 teeth: 12 incisors, 10 premolars, 4 canines and 4 molars. Kittens have baby teeth that they loose at about 7 months.

o   Cats lap liquid from the underside of their tongue, not from the top.

o   Cats front paws have 5 toes while the rear paws have 4; some cats have as may of 7 front toes.

o   Cats can walk on their toes.

o   A domestic cat can sprint 31 miles per hour.

o   A cats normal temperature is 102, breath 20 to 40 times a minute and the hearts beat between 140 to 240 beat per minute averaging 195.

o   Cats have two vocal chords making over 100 sounds.

Miacis is a primitive ancestor of a cat that lived in trees in the late Eocene period (45 to 50 million years ago. The first true (sounds like a metaphysical construct to me) cats is the Proailurus which came into being about 12 million years ago. They were domesticated in the Fertile Crescent about 10,000 years ago as people became farmers.

Ancient Egyptians family members would shave their eyebrows in mourning when their family cat died. Shaving your eyebrows is illegal in India. It was a form of punishment in France, the Netherlands and Norway; usually for women who had collaborated with the Nazis during occupations. If you are a monk in Thailand it is normal. Some women shave their eyebrows or bleach them for fashion reasons. The word is “weird.”

Better than shaving your eyebrows if you want to lower your blood pressure stroke a cat. Since 1987 there are more cats pets in this country than dogs. We, 37% of the population, spend $2 billion on cat food. Napoleon Bonaparte, Dwight d. Eisenhower and Hitler disliked cats. More food for thought.

Six toed cats are common in Boston. Cats live with soldiers in the trenches during WWI. Cat litter was invented in 1947 by Edward Lowe’s neighbor, which became Lowe’s business which he sold in 1990 for $200 million; I don’t know what the neighbor got.

Finally, the cat seems to be the only domestic animals not mentioned in the bible. However, that is only true for protestants; Roman Catholics have more books in their bible one of these Baruch which says, “Bats and swallows alight on their bodies and on their heads; and cats as well as birds.” ~Baruch 6.21. the passage has to do with idols/gods of the Babylonians.